


it grows.

by angstmachine (bibbleboo)



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: (looks at freshtv) im about to ruin this mans whole comedic vibe, 3Edgy5Me, Cults, Gen, Ghosts, Horror AU, Mushrooms, Scary, Summer Camp AU, TDI, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2020-03-06 02:31:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18841816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibbleboo/pseuds/angstmachine
Summary: (Total drama horror/thriller summer camp au)The mysteries behind a new camp begin to unravel as the teens soon realize there’s a much darker history to the area that might threaten their summer vacation. Not everyone is who they say they are. Hint; don’t eat the mushrooms.





	1. the green grass grows all around.

**Author's Note:**

> Authors note;;; hello! so this is my first td fic ever, and one of the only fics ive ever been able to create and share, so my usual standards apply, please no constructive criticism at all unless it’s smth harmful/offensive that needs to be changed. im the kinda person who was rly good at writing in school but the education system pushed me waaay too hard and totally burnt me out, so every time i write smth now its a baby step towards making it a hobby i can enjoy and feel confident in again. Still, i absolutely love horror so i hope i can do this concept justice!! Thank you for reading !
> 
> Trigger warnings: vague suicide and drug references

_There was a tree, (there was a tree) In the middle of the woods, (in the middle of the woods) The prettiest tree, (the prettiest tree) That you ever did see, (that you ever did see), and the green grass grows all around, all around, and the green grass grows all around!_

The past hour and a half had been filled with the discordant noises of 13 teenagers crowded onto a bus, that occasionally broke out into song as most long bus rides tend to. Summer was approaching on its toes, the trees were vibrant and the warm breeze came like waves. It was hard for most to sit still, the mood was excited, almost impatient to be roaming outside and experiencing the environment.

A timid boy, with not much help from his meek voice, makes his way to the front of the bus. It’s a miracle the driver could hear him over all the noise, but being observant was more or less what he considered to be his best skill.

“Uhm. . . Chef- Mr. Hatchet, sir. . . I have to. . . ‘empty the tank’.”

“We’re almost there, Cody.” he mutters.

“But I _really_ -”

“Do you **_see_  **a bathroom?”

With a defeated sigh, the young man carefully makes his way back to his seat, before a taunting voice heckles him, catching his attention.

“Is it an emergency?”

Following a moment of bewildered confusion, his eyes scan to where the voice came from. The speaker makes a silent gesture for Cody to look behind himself. Scanning again, he locks onto the object in question. The emergency exit door. It now appears the comment was a dare. He lets out an apprehensive laugh.

“N-no, I can’t do that. . .”

The daring man shrugs and leans back, his neon green hair and the edgy skull on his t shirt now starkly visible, adding harshly to the peer-pressuring effect.

“Then brace yourself for a full bladder and another 20 minutes of potholes.”

He would, but time seems to drag by much slower when you spend the morning before an important trip anxiety-chugging an entire Gatorade. Another 20 minutes sounds like a personal hell. In desperation, he decides to gather some confidence, albeit a horribly misguided amount, and trek towards the back of the bus. Despite the jokester's previously relaxed position, he can’t help but watch the circumstances unfold with a look of surprise, and perhaps vague regret for saying anything.

As the songs begin to die down, they’re suddenly replaced with a loud buzzing alarm, raucous laughter and groans of distaste. This sudden mood change catches the attention of the frustrated driver, who upon looking in the rear view mirror, notices that same timid boy at the back of the bus with the emergency door wide open. And his fly down. Not so timid anymore, it would seem.

“Boy, have you lost your _mind_?!”

The bus screeches to a sudden halt, propelling him towards the middle rows of seats, all eyes on him and the small sliver of Fortnite boxers peeking through a zipper. Of course, the one who suggested the brilliant idea in the first place discreetly looks away from the situation he has caused, much like a guilty dog standing in front of a broken family heirloom. The increasingly irate Chef pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales.

“Allright. We’re taking a 5 minute break. Everyone, either stay on the bus or go for a bathroom break. And _you_ ,”

He points to the guilty dog in question, who points to himself for clarification.

“Are Cody’s bathroom buddy.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Your bad influence, your responsibility.”

“How do you know it was my--”

“I see _everything_ on this bus.”

After a dramatic eye roll, he gives in and picks the dazed teen off the floor.

As they exit through the front door (this time), Cody starts to run far past where the other stops. Instead of following, he cups his hands around his mouth and shouts.

“Where the fuck are you going?”

“I don’t want you to hear!!!” He shouts back, not stopping.

“Oh. Right. You got me. I set up this whole thing so I could listen to you gently piss on the forest floor.”

He’s nearly out of sight now, having to yell at the top of his lungs.

“ _Don’t Make It Weird!!!_ ”

With a sigh, he lowers himself to the ground and settles in.

“Whatever.”

 

Back inside the bus, a fixated young girl skims brochures quietly to herself. A few loose strands of auburn hair hang down as her eyes scan, word after word, paragraph after paragraph. She’s read over it plenty of times already, but with a one track mind and a long time to wait, there isn’t much else to exert her energy on.

A beach blonde in a sky blue hoodie to the seat directly in front of her turns around, giving her a polite smile, which is quickly returned.

“What’s that?” The bookworm lights up.

“The brochures for Camp Campestris. They have a list of how to identify some of the most common mushroom species in the area, I’m trying to memorize them. Yknow, in case there’s any mushroom hunting activities, then I’ll have an advantage.”

“Woah, you’re thorough. . . Does that say ‘over 50 different varieties’?”

At this point, a few other bored teens seem to be listening in for the sake of having something to do. She brandishes the papers out for all to see.

“Mhm, something about the environment just lets the mushrooms take over the forest floor. There isn’t a lot of wildlife in this area, so I guess there’s nothing around to eat them.”

“Haha, not for longgg~” a boy in a puffball beanie grins. She’s unable to contain a quiet scoff.

“Ezekiel, there aren’t gonna be any hallucinogenic mushrooms growing on property purchased for a _summer camp_. If you eat them, you’ll just get sick.” She emphasizes.

“We’ll see.” He leans back, resting his head on his crossed arms, taking her final sigh of exasperation as a win.

 

Outside, Duncan is still sitting and waiting, kicking at rocks on the side of the dirt road, growing more impatient by the second.

“Codyyy, for the love of _god_ , hurry up.”

He receives no response, but the hum of the engine.

“ ** _Cody_ **.” He repeats, louder.

Begrudgingly, he forces himself up, brushing himself off and setting out on a rescue mission. He should have known, there’s no telling where someone like Cody could end up unsupervised.

As he approaches the woods, he can’t miss the small empty trail right at the edge of the treeline. It’s the most immediately obvious landmark, which for a teenage boy usually means the most pee-able spot. Though when he arrives at the trail, he comes across a strange sight. Tiny white mushrooms growing on either side of it, fencing the walkway it in, almost like a big arrow. He smirks, and gives a hardly audible remark of awe.

“Cool . . .”

Letting his curiosity temporarily distract him, he follows the trail downhill. The mushrooms seem to get bigger, and less spaced out as he advances. They spiral through the woods in a distinct pattern, as if they’re truly guiding the way, trying to let those who find it in on some secret. His feet are moving on auto pilot now with his eyes glued to the ground, all the way up to the gnarled roots of a small oak tree, an intricate ring of fungi growing around it like a bullseye. The line of mushrooms seemingly diverts and juts out in the front, almost forming an oval. There’s something peaceful about coming across it, but more so ominous. Like calm before a storm.

A gentle gust of wind comes, blowing a dark circular shadow over the boys face. Catching his eye, he looks up to inspect it’s origins.

 

* * *

 

 

Back at the bus, things are dying down as calm is replaced with restlessness, when in bursts the young man with more excitement than an 8 year old receiving his first Gameboy for Christmas.

“GUYS, I JUST FOUND A NOOSE!”

“ _What?!_ ” The teenagers screech at once, much to the dismay of the driver. A line soon forms at the door as they funnel out to see the spectacle.

“NO, Everybody Stays On The- _HEY!_ Duncan, I am _this_ close.” Chef growls out.

Ignoring the threat, Duncan quickly leads the group to his discovery. The trail is just as ethereal as before, and the tree stands with an outstretched branch, wrapped gently with a necklace of rope. The lanky one in the beanie speaks up again.

“Woah. . . you think somebody **_died_** here?”

DJ, the strongest of the group yet the most faint of heart makes an observation.

“Y-yeah, look, it’s in the shape of a body . . .”

“Okay, no offense, but if somebody died I’m calling my mom.” A girl with long black hair, who already looked annoyed to be on the trail, apathetically states. The studious brunette rolls her eyes at the group's collective imagination.

“Oh whatever. The only thing deadly about them is their species. They’re Deathcaps.”

“Pardon?” A nerdy redhead at the back of the crowd prompts.

“ _Deathcaps_ , they grow around tree roots like that all the time. It’s not anything out of the ordinary. As long as you don’t eat them, you’re fine.”

The troublemaker is quick to challenge her dismissal of his discovery.

“Well then genius, how do you explain the noose?”

She replies with a sarcastic shrug.

“A strategically placed prop for scary campfire stories?”

“ _20 minutes from the camp_?”

The adult finally cuts them off, bringing attention back to the matter at hand.

“Okay, everybody put a lid on it, Duncan, _where is Cody_.”

“Uhhh, does that really _matter_ right now? There’s a NOOSE-”

“Yes, because  _now_ , we got a boy who peed out of an emergency exit door, running around _by himself_ in woods with poisonous mushrooms.”

It’s in that moment that everyone takes on a surprisingly good impression of the grimace emoji, before beginning an enthusiastic search for the missing camper.

 

Meanwhile, said camper has found himself down a rabbit hole. Or rather, in the outskirts of the woods, a good long walk from camp, in an unknown direction. In his attempt to avoid open terrain, he had spotted a thin river in the distance, assuming it to be a good private spot to use as a bathroom. Unfortunately, the path back wasn’t quite as memorable. He hadn't seen enough Animal Planet documentaries to know what to do next, but he had seen _just_ enough to know that he wasn’t gonna fare well if he stayed lost.

Just as things start to seem dire, in a jarring turn of events, he comes across another camper peering down over the river on the opposing side, as though she’s transfixed her own reflection. He almost lets out a yell, but after firmly assessing that she hopefully was _not_ looking when he peed into the river 50 feet away, he decides the best outcome is to put himself in her hands.

“Hey. . . can you help me?! Do you know how to get back to the-”

It’s then when he realizes, he doesn’t remember actually seeing her at any point on the bus ride. He doesn’t remember her getting on, or getting off. _Were there 13 campers? Or just 12?_

She glances up, and he feels frozen in place. Something about her eyes has him in a trance, unable to form thoughts. Though to be fair, most girls do have that effect on him. And boys. And the generalized, basic daily tasks of modern life. Still, this is different. Calm before the storm now feels as though the storm is approaching.

“Cody!”

With a shout, the spell is seemingly broken. He’s met with a very frustrated group of faces. And since luck is obviously not on his side today, when he turns back, the girl seems to have vanished.

“Seriously dude, you were in the woods for like 12 seconds. How did you manage to get lost?” A boy in a green handprint t-shirt chides.

“Uhh . . . I saw a girl”

“. . . Liiike. . . A human girl?”

“. . . Maybe?”

The look he’s given is somewhere between dumbfoundedness and concern. A brazen girl approaches the lot, with fiery hair and sparkling green eyes, and gently sets a hand on his shoulder as if she’s about to drop some truly profound advice.

“Don’t get lost again, you’ll probably definitely die next time.” With that, she walks past.

After finally making their way back to the bus, the air shifts into something organized again, at least temporarily. The driver once again takes his seat, praying to himself it will be the final time until they reach their destination.

“All right everybody, Roll call. **CODY.** ”

He hides himself in his hands.

“ _Here._ ”

“Bridgette.”

“Here!”

“Courtney.”

“Present.”

“Dawn.”

“Here.”

The voice that responds is oddly soft and saccharine, but when Cody turns to where it came from he almost leaps out of his seat. If a real life reaction could be bass boosted, his would be. It's the girl from the river. _When did she get on?!_

The man in the green shirt leans in.

“Hey, hate to burst your bubble casanova, but most girls don’t _love_ being stared at.”

Realizing how strong his gaze was, his eyes rush to the floor. “R-right. . .”

“DJ.”

“Here!”

“Duncan.”

The reminder he gives for his presence is a quiet hand lift, barely enough to catch anyone's attention. Soon, the names start to fly by.

“Ezekiel.”

“Gwen.”

“Harold.”

“Heather.”

“Izzy.”

"Trent."

“Noah.”

“Not here.” he says, without looking up.

With a cough, Chef mutters “Yeah, never heard _that one_ before,” He clears his throat one more time.

“Allright then, that’s everybody. Strap in.”

Harold taps at the plastic of the seat with indignation.

“This is a bus, there aren’t any seat belts.”

“Then pretend to strap in.”

“Why do I need to-”

Before he can continue, the driver points towards him menacingly. Harold raises his arms in surrender.

“And for the love of god, keep _all_ the doors and windows _closed_.”

And with that, things are finally back on track. The rumble of tires on gravel brings back the cacophony of voices trying to get to know each other as they advance towards where they'll be spending the rest of the summer. And what a long summer it would turn out to be.


	2. tranquil.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The campers arrive and share a surprisingly uneventful day, feeling much like the calm before a storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors note;;; heLLO SORRY FOR THE DELAY!! i now care for an infant (my nephew) nearly 24/7 and while i love him dearly, its obviously put a big damper on my ability to churn out fandom content. to make up for that this is a double update, so the next chapter wont have an authors note and will be published immediately following this one. i hope this story continues to pique your interest and that i can start to update more frequently soon!!
> 
> trigger warnings: none !

* * *

As the bus finally pulls into its destination, the teens are quickly greeted with a pleasant looking man. His smile is theatrical, reminiscent of someone trying to sell you something.

“Howdy campers!”

“We’re in Ontario, not Kansas.” Duncan says, rolling past with a suitcase and avoiding eye contact.

“Well, they’re _your problem_ now.” The bus driver adds, making a similar beeline past the disparaged counselor.

“All righty!” He responds, with a sarcastically chipper tone. “Welcome to Camp Campestris. Left bunk is the girls, right is the boys. Over here is the good ol’ Campestris lake, and don’t worry, the piranhas are fed daily, so they shouldn’t bother you.”

His joke goes without applause, not that he notices. He points towards a short statured but spacious building located towards the end of the lake.

“Over there is the mess hall, and behind it is the head cabin, which is where Chef and I will be during our free time.”

“Hey! What’s up there?” A redheaded girl inquires, prompting everyone to glance up at a small treehouse near the lake.

“That’s your classic treehouse, anyone’s invited to go in it, but if you guys start fighting over it, don't come crying if you wind up with an eviction notice.”

Again, crickets.

“So what are we doing today?” Trent questions, gently positioning his guitar case into a resting point.

“Eh, just getting settled, maybe a couple activities, the _real_ fun stuff starts tomorrow.”

“Like what?”

“Well, since you’re all so impatient, we’re hosting a summer long scavenger hunt. Everybody that finds an item listed on the event board located in the mess hall will get a reward, and if you find them all, everyone gets a special end of the summer prize. Big exploration hike in the morning, so be ready to get up bright and early.”

“What’s the prize?” A raven haired girl asks, her arms crossed in an unimpressed display. He responds with a cattish grin.

“It’s the best kind of prize Heather, a sur-prize!”

Really, it could not be any quieter, though he’s starting to find the task of annoying them all to be more exciting than the introduction.

“All right all right, but all jokes aside, I’m legally required to tell you this so listen closely; There are three major rules at Camp Campestris, 1. Don’t eat anything from the woods without permission, 2. Lights out by 9:30, and 3-”

The crowd responds monotonously.

“ _Have fun_.”

“. . . You dudes know you’re at a _summer camp_ right?”

They nod. 

“Kay. Go unpack and then report back here in ten for some Canoe time.”

Cody takes the opportunity of being huddled into a group to look for the blonde mystery girl before everybody disperses. After some anxious swiveling, he spots her peering serenely over the dock of the lake. He doesn’t recall her carrying any baggage with her, so she doesn’t appear to be occupied with settling into her cabin.

“Hey! I saw you by the river. How did you get on the bus without anybody noticing? Where’dja come from?”

Her gaze stays ahead on the water, intentionally avoidant.

“. . . I got here early.”

“Why?”

“. . . I’m. . . Excited. About camp.” She drones out, unconvincingly.

“Then why’d you sneak onto the bus?”

“. . . I wanted to meet everyone. They seem. . . nice.”

“. . . Did you even say a word to anybody?”

She gives him a short pause, before shrugging her shoulders.

“I’m not very good at social situations.”

“Oh. . .” He relaxes a bit at the relatable sentiment, rubbing his neck. “Guess that’s why your parents sent you to camp then?”

“I guess.” She walks past him, crouching down to pick at flowers on the ground, the only sign of her listening being her occasional 5 word or less responses. That is, until she fires back with a question of her own.

“Why’d your parents send you?”

He tries not to look offended, a fruitless endeavor.

“Oh. . . uh, they thought I needed to get out more. Yknow, try new things.”

“. . . Well, you did pee out of a moving bus.”

His face turns red hot.

“I’m not gonna hear the end of that all summer--. . . . Wait, you weren’t there yet, were you?”

She mindlessly twirls a golden lock of hair, a slightly ornery look on her face.

“I heard the stories.”

“Oh, _great._ ” He facepalms. When he looks up again, the girl is already walking away

“Wait!” He exclaims, trying to catch her.

“You should go unpack.” She replies without looking, just loud enough for him to hear.

He stops, recognizing his efforts to be useless. The warm tone of her voice betrays her uninviting words. Nonetheless, he obliges.

 

“All right guys, gather round.” The counselor calls out to the slowly returning campers.

He leads the group to a small decrepit building located between the cabins and the lake. Laminated letters across the wood read “EQUIPMENT SHACK”. He grabs at a ring of keys on his side, having to sift for a moment to find the right one. When the doors open, the scent of lake water comes through strongly. Canoes are rigged on top of each other in the corner, with oars scattered nearby.

“Okay everybody, grab one, pick a partner and get to rowing.”

Cody’s hopeful eyes search for the perplexing blonde from before, who makes a point to grab the blue sleeve of the girl next to her, also blonde and seemingly eager to receive peer acceptance. His quest for a partner continues, but it garners similar results. To his disappointment, it starts to look like every girl is taken. And also, every boy. Chris approaches him with a pitying grimace.

“Yeesh buddy, hate to pour salt in the wound, but there is one left over.”

In a walk of shame, he grabs the final set of equipment.

As he pushes off shore, he’s immediately overwhelmed with the size of the lake. The opposing side of it is completely shrouded in trees, giving an ominous cloak to the woods that lay beyond it. The reflected scenery warps and wavers across the surface of the water.

He looks down. His own reflection appears still. Almost unnaturally still.

_BANG!_

The sound of wood clattering against itself startles the one man passenger.

“Hey!” He exclaims fearfully.

“Get outta the way, bro.” The disgruntled punk teases.

“There’s an entire lake, why can’t you just go around?”

“Have you tried steering these things?”

The girl behind him gives an embarrassed sigh.

“Give me your oar.”

“What? Why?”

The un-dynamic duo's canoe continues to beat into the side of Cody's, rocking it a little more than gently.

“Because you’re not doing it right, it’s supposed to go like this-”

_SMACK!_

The oar collides with his own, causing him to nearly lose his grip on it.

“Okay, you guys, it’s not a bumper car-” Cody implores. The group turns back again to face him.

“Well, if you could row backwards, we could get by.”

“If _you_ rowed backwards, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“I _can’t_ row backwards anymore, Heather and Trent are in the way."

As they all glance behind, the man in question gives an apologetic wave, while the girl simply avoids eye contact with any of them.

“Why is everyone in the same spot! There's an entire lake here!!”

It’s then that Heather finally cares enough to cut in, rather obnoxiously.

“Ughhh! CHRIS! There’s a frog in our boat.”

“I don’t really know if you can call it a ‘boat’.” Trent gently corrects.

“Nah guys, that’s definitely a frog!” Ezekiel replies as he passes by. Heather shuts her eyes, silently meditating for a moment.

“That’s it, I want out. There’s too much garbage floating around in here.”

“You’re not talking about litter, are you.” Duncan questions flatly.

_Splash!_

“Oops.” Courtney jests after directing some lake water Heather's way, tired of waiting for them to move.

The frustrated teenager stands up, the only real law to break when existing inside of a canoe, to grab at the other girl’s oar.

“HEY!”

_*Ribbit!*_

“AH!” she squeals, scrambling to get away from the small creature. 

“Wait-” Cody urges, but despite his best efforts the inevitable happens, and in a moment of chaos, the canoes begin to tip and all 5 campers are submerged. As they resurface, they notice some light laughter is being shared by onlookers.

"Hey guys, just so you know, it works better when you're _inside_ the canoe." Noah taunts ironically from across the water, further entertaining the growing audience.

Heather thrashes dramatically until she finds the lakebed so that she can stand and groan directly at the counselor, who happens to be relaxing on a dock chair.

“CHRIS!!! Why are you just watching?!”

“Oh. . . do you all know how to swim?”

Various “yeahs” ring out amongst them as a response.

“Awesome.” He says, remaining seated. “See, everything’s fine.”

She lets out another one of her distinct ‘ugh’s as she angrily stomps up the lakeside towards her cabin. It's only after the fun has seemingly died down that Chris feels ready to wrap things up.

“Guess that’s it for the day, everybody head on back.”

As the campers try to drag their equipment back, and the few unfortunate overboarders start to dry off, Cody is left on the dock in some deep thought. From atop, the water is a beautiful teal, but rather dark and murky when you're actually swimming in it. Despite this, he could have sworn he saw someone down at the bottom.


	3. buried.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As day transitions to night, the campers can't seem to stay away from the oddities lurking in the woods.

* * *

Night falls swiftly, as the bus arrived rather late in the day. The camp is far from civilization, part of it’s enriching atmosphere being that it’s a way to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. Some of the campers find restful sleep in this isolation, while others have a hard time adjusting.

Duncan steps out onto the porch of his cabin, catching Courtney sitting on the opposing porch, staring up at the stars.

“. . . Couldn’t sleep?” He mumbles. The noise still startles her. 

“. . . Yeah, I just needed some fresh air.”

He puts on a devilish smirk, approaching with his hands nonchalantly in his pockets.

“Thiiis wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the noose, would it?”

Her calm expression is quickly replaced with a flustered, defensive one.

“No! . . . Okay, fine, yeah. I had this stupid nightmare that I was. . . buried under it.” She shoots him a sarcastic smile. “Happy now?”

He rubs his neck guiltily, trying to laugh off the tense atmosphere.

“Yeesh, I didn’t mean t-”

She shakes her head dismissively before he can finish.

“It’s fine, I can handle it. I think I just miss home.”

“Ah cmon, you just got here--”

“Hey, I’m not _going_ anywhere.” She stands up triumphantly, baring a smirk of her own. “It’s gonna take a lot more than a piece of rope to scare me off.” She scoffs.

“. . . Maybe we should go check it out then.”

“ _What?_ Why?”

“Yeah, then we’d know once and for all what’s under there. Chris and Chef are asleep, the trails not too far--”

“It’s miles down the road!”

“If we start walking right now, I bet we could make it in an hour.”

“That means an hour _back_ , which means we’d be out for _two_ hours.”

“Where are you guys going?” A raspy voice calls from behind, as a girl with choppy blue locks appears in the doorway of the girls cabin.

“NOWHERE!” Courtney shouts exasperatedly, causing the still tired girl to wince.

“We’re gonna go see what’s under the noose tree. You coming?”

“. . . Ehh. . . Yeah. Beats sitting around here, at least.”

It’s not long before the racket continues to attract any of campers left awake, including Cody, who makes himself known in a puffed-chest show of bravado.

“. . . Uh. . . I should go too. Yknow, to protect the girls.”

The reception to his statement is not warm, hardly even being acknowledged besides a few unimpressed frowns, while Courtney’s focus remains on explaining the risks.

“Okay, fine, if you don’t care about the rules, you should at least care about the fact that Chris said we have to get up _extra_ early tomorrow. For a _hike_.”

“What, you think I've never had a night out before?”

She quirks an eyebrow.

“Fine, you go back to sleep. I can handle it.”

He turns to leave before she can toss an insult back. “Wait up!” Cody shouts, rushing to follow him, with Gwen walking at a less lively pace.

As the gang departs and she’s left behind, she bites her lip, and with a final sigh of peer pressure, gives in.

 

 

After meandering the trail in a long, agonizing ‘I dont know you well enough to do small talk yet’ silence, the ice is finally broken amongst the teens by an increasingly anxiety ridden Cody. Though he went to show bravery and impress the others, he’s cracking fast.

“Sooo. . . What happens if we _DO_ find a body under there?” He inquires, with a meek, blatantly faux sense of calm.

“. . . Well, we’ll definitely all have to go home. And we’ll probably get haunted or something.” Duncan replies.

“More like _arrested_.” Gwen jokes.

“I don’t like either of those possibilities.” The boy whines back.

“Relax, there’s probably nothing there.” Courtney reassures him, although it's riddled with a bit of a demeaning tone aimed towards the fearmongerer himself. He's quick to return the sentiment.

“I dunno. Could be a zombie.”

“Not a zombie.”

“Could be a vampire.”

“Are you 5?”

“Oh shit, here it is!” He abruptly stops, pointing to the lines of white fungus off to the side that act almost like landing strips for the location.

The group shares one last look of unease before they embark down the trail into the woods once more. The atmosphere of it all is quite different in the dark, and it’s only then they seem to realize they forgot flashlights.

“This is stupid. . . I can hardly see where I’m going.” Courtney complains, reaching an arm out in an attempt to not run into anything. 

“Just stick to the trail.”

_Thmp!_

“AH! What was that?”

“Oh, just me.” Cody wheezes from the ground, having tripped over a tree root.

“Jeez, jumpy much?” Duncan jeers, which turns out to be a huge mistake.

“We are _miles_ from civilization heading into the forest, _nobody_ knows where we are, it’s _pitch black_ , and I heard something behind me. Do you have _any_ survival instinct at all?”

With the stars being the only source of visibility, she almost misses the ‘come over here’ gesture from the man before her. They break off from the group, just barely out of earshot, before he whispers.

"Look. If you want to head back, I'll walk with you, but I'm coming back later with or without you."

She shoots him a harsh glare, that the closest translation for is “oh fuck off, not if you’re _telling_ me to”.

“I’m not _scared_ , all right? I’m just not comfortable with the idea of getting in trouble on the first day of summer camp.”

“That’s when they’re the most lenient!!” He remarks.

She rolls her eyes in an exaggerated motion, hoping he can see it.

“You realize there’s probably _nothing_ under there right?”

“Wow, is it that the type of burning curiosity and yearning for adventure that made you want to come out here to summer camp?”

“. . .”

Admittedly, it was not. Random creepy sites off campus weren’t exactly what she had in mind, but it was something, and if there was one thing in the world that bugged her _more_ than mindlessly reckless behavior, it was her own incessant curiosity.

“If we get caught, I’m blaming every _bit_ of it on you.”

“No problem. Look at me, I’m a professional scapegoat.”

The trek hesitantly continues, all the way to the infamous tree and rope, complete with an ominous ring of mushrooms. It's the exact same as it was earlier, only ten times scarier.

“All right. . . so. . . what do we dig with?” Cody asks.

Duncan gives a thousand yard stare before letting out a world weary sigh.

“We should've raided the equipment shack for shovels before we left.”

"Sorry, you want to add _stealing_ to the list of rules being broken tonight?"

In yet another display of ugly unnecessary masculinity, Cody gets on his hands and knees and prepares to use his hands.

“. . . Why not, I guess.” The other man mirrors his actions.

“Ugh.” Courtney takes a few steps back towards the trail, telling herself she’s just standing guard. That’d be the responsible role to take on, right? Though it doesn’t stop her from peering over her shoulder more than a few times.

Suddenly, the boys erupt with shouts of excitement, in a moment reminiscent of The Goonies.

“What?!”

“I felt something!”

They continue to dig and sift, and upon seeing something that's _definitely_ not dirt, start to drag small piles away from it. Finally, they're able to pick a solid object up out of the ground.

“. . . It’s a book.” Duncan says, flopping it in his hands and not even trying to hide his disappointment.

“Hey, maybe it’s a scavenger hunt item!” Cody suggests with optimism. Unfortunately, it's Courtney's turn to crush his dreams.

“They wouldn't put a scavenger hunt item all the way out here, where we're not even allowed to be. Somebody must've left it behind.” 

“Open it up and see what it says!” Gwen prods.

Caked with dirt, the title is completely obscured, but upon further investigation, it seems to be a mycology book, containing intricate illustrations of mushrooms and long scientific names no one in the group could pronounce. The word “Agaricus” is printed at the top of each page, and seems to be referenced many times, but with not much context. 

It's not that shocking, a book about mushrooms at a camp known for them, but it’s the additional writing scribbled onto the last page that catches everyone’s attention and holds them in a rather intense silence. Four words, in deep blue ink.

“He’s not a counselor”.


End file.
